OAKLAND, Calif. — When it mattered most in Game 5 of the NBA Finals Sunday, the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Golden State Warriors evolved into LeBron James against Stephen Curry.

And as brilliant as James was, Curry was better.

“He took over the game down the stretch and was fantastic,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said after Curry scored 17 of his team-high 37 points in the fourth quarter as the Warriors moved to within one win of a championship with a 104-91 victory for a 3-2 Finals lead at Oracle Arena.

And now the Warriors can win their first championship in 40 years, since 1975, in Game 6 on Tuesday in Cleveland.

“We fought hard all year and put ourselves in good position now to go to Cleveland and hopefully close it out,” said Curry who shot 5-of-7 in the fourth quarter, including 3-of-5 on 3-pointers. “We’re confident. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves.

“But we know the sense of urgency of the moment.”

James proclaimed he is just as confident in his play, though. And he gave a pretty good argument.
“I feel confident because I’m the best player in the world. It’s simple,” James said.

James was triple-double brilliant again with 40 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists. But even his brilliance that produced his 14th career playoff triple-double, sixth in a Finals and second in these Finals, wasn’t enough. And other than in the fantasy of Bugs Bunny cartoons, one-man teams really don’t exist. To give all he had and come up short was tough to accept.

“You cope with it by understanding it’s just one game and looking at the opportunity we have on Tuesday to force a Game 7,” James said. “Obviously, for myself, I want to do whatever it takes to help our team win, and I haven’t been able to do that the last two [games].”

Getty ImagesJames got help early, notably from J.R. Smith (14 points, all in the first half) and Tristan Thompson (19 points) but precious little late — James scored 13 in the fourth quarter and Thompson had five (two on a so-what dunk 26.8 seconds from the end).

The Warriors got balance. There was the offensive brilliance of Curry but also stout defense throughout the night and 14 points from Andre Iguodala. There was Green, Leandro Barbosa (13 points) and Klay Thompson (12 points).

But at the end, it was Curry above all. He was asked if his 3-pointer, off a cross-over, that led to the 10-point lead at 96-86 was his “signature move.”

“It was a fun moment,” Curry said, but stressed “signature moments only come for players who are holding the trophy at the end of the day.”

“An incredible play,” said Green, who stuck to his vow to play hard and angry.

Curry shot 13-of-23 for the night but obviously was best with the game, perhaps the series, on the line.

He drove with 3:10 left for an 8-point lead, hit a pull up 3-pointer at 2:44 for a 96-86 lead and then stuck the dagger with a fadeaway triple at 1:22 that made it 100-89. The Warriors closed the game on a 19-7 run.

“I called all those plays. Those were my genius inventions. No, that was just Steph taking over the game,” said Kerr, whose use again of a small-ball lineup caused the Cavs to follow suit. “It was a different game, you know, because they decided to go smaller, and so the floor was more open.”

And that led to a game that exemplified why Curry was the league MVP.

“I thought from the very beginning when they went small, had their shooters out there, I thought this is Steph’s night,” Kerr said.

Cavs coach David Blatt defended his decision to yank center Timofey Mozgov before five minutes elapsed and try to match the masters of small-ball at their own game.